Chapter 961 - New Attempt
Ling Han didn’t wait for Shui Yanyu’s answer, and directly extracted the essence from a new Mountain River Stone.
Of course, this wasn’t the special Mountain River Stone that he had obtained recently. Rather, it was one that he had obtained from the group of seven that he had killed. He had obtained a total of two Mountain River Stones from them, but as he had been busy with his journey, he hadn’t refined the two stones yet.
The eyes of the others became green with envy as they saw Ling Han refining a Mountain River Stone openly, and they could barely contain themselves, not dashing over and snatching it away.
Fortunately, they were able to stop themselves when they realized that it was only an ordinary Mountain River Stone.
Ordinary Mountain River Stones were only capable of reducing the cultivation time of cultivators. Although they were extremely valuable, prodigies weren’t too fussy about the small amount of time that they could save. Only Mountain River Stones with special attributes could be considered precious treasures. They could genuinely raise one’s battle prowess.
Fearing Ling Han’s battle prowess was only part of the reason that no one charged over. The other reason was because of Hu Feiyun. She was the Ninth King!
Thinking of the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire’s fondness toward the Ninth King, who would dare to disrespect her?
Even the members of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire didn’t dare touch the Ninth King. It was much the same for the Eternity Sky and Jade Drop Majestic Empires. In fact, they even had to risk their lives to rescue her if she were to come across any dangers. After all, everyone was aware that the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire would definitely erupt in rage if the Ninth King were to die here. She definitely wouldn’t hesitate to bury everyone here alive as a tribute to the Ninth King.
There was no need for doubt—the empress of the Chaotic Stars Majestic Empire could definitely steel her heart to do that.
Shui Yanyu wasn’t stupid. It was impossible to come across Hu Feiyun during normal occasions. Now that she had such a great opportunity, she naturally had to act friendly with Hu Feiyun. The Ninth King was charming and naive, and knew little of the world’s dangers and evils. Before long, she had already fallen into a cheerful conversation with Shui Yanyu.
Ling Han casually cultivated in front of everyone else.
In the eyes of others, such action was crazy and rash. However, Ling Han was incredibly relaxed. This was because no one else knew that his physique had already reached the toughness of a Level Two Godly metal. Who here could injure him?
Even if they used divine flames, they would probably still need to refine him for several days, right? If they instead chose to use the most potent poison, it would still be quite a while before he was actually taken down by it.
After all, the unique environment here guaranteed that Ling Han was almost completely safe.
The Mountain River Stone in his hand was slowly becoming dimmer. Meanwhile, the large mountain in his Dantian was rapidly growing larger.
The lower one’s cultivation level, the faster one’s growth. When the Mountain River Stone became dull and brittle, the first Mountain in Ling Han’s Dantian had already grown 100-fold. Now, it was finally starting to look a little bit like a mountain.
‘I’m almost at the middle stage of the low extreme,’ Ling Han thought to himself. ‘But this Mountain River is already about to form and condense a river, so why is the mountain still so small?
‘Is it because I’m relying on the Mountain River Stone to rank up?
‘Whatever, everything will be fine as long as my battle prowess matches my tier.’
Ling Han stood up and started to cross the river again.
This time, he charged to the 60th stone in one breath before finally slowing down. After raising his cultivation level, his improvement was especially clear. However, a feeling of strain once again overcame him when he reached the 90th stone. He pushed himself to take another step forward, yet all he could do was helplessly plop into the river.
“Hahaha!” A few people immediately started to howl with laughter. They looked as if they were about to break into gleeful applause at any moment.
However, looks of shock spread across their faces in the very next instant.
It was because Ling Han was actually swinging his arms and swimming toward the island!
‘Monster! He’s definitely a monster!’
It wasn’t that no one had thought of this before. Since they had made it more than halfway, why couldn’t they swim forward? In fact, the distance was even shorter if they swam.
The answer was simple. It was because this was actually more difficult—more than one hundred times more difficult, to be precise.
Swimming away from the island was extremely easy. Apart from the corrosive nature of the lake water, there wasn’t even the tiniest bit of resistance. However, swimming toward the island was a completely different story. In addition to the threat of the lake water, there was also a terrifying resistive power.
It was like a reverse gravity that was pushing one away from the island. Moreover, there was nothing to push off in the water, so it was naturally much more difficult to swim forward.
It could be said that apart from being corroded by the lake water, it was basically impossible to move forward if one tried to swim toward the island.
However… although Ling Han wasn’t advancing, his body wasn’t being corroded, either!
This was far too astonishing. What kind of physique could resist the corrosion of the lake water?
After swimming for a short while, Ling Han could only reluctantly turn back. The pressure was instantly lifted off his shoulders, and he made it back to the bank in no time. The clothes on his body had already transformed into ragged strips that were now peeling off and falling onto the ground. However, the unharmed muscles on his body radiated a divine glow.
Ling Han retrieved a new outfit and quickly dressed himself. Being able to resist the corrosive ability of the lake water wasn’t merely because of his strong physique. It was also because he had been channeling the Indestructible Heaven’s Scroll. This skill allowed him to resist all spells, and the corrosive lake water was nothing in the face of this powerful skill.
“Huh? Have you guys not seen me before?” Ling Han chuckled. “Why are your expressions so weird?” Right now, both Shui Yanyu and Hu Feiyun’s eyes were wide with disbelief.
How could they not be astonished? The corrosive ability of the Crimson Lake was widely acknowledged to be terrifying. No matter who fell in, they would definitely lose a layer of skin. However, Ling Han had swum around it as if it were merely an ordinary lake. This was extremely astounding.
Even the old fellows from before felt their hearts palpitate in fear. They were secretly thankful that they hadn’t clashed with Ling Han just then. With such a powerful physique, who here could injure him?
Ling Han sat down and retrieved the last remaining ordinary Mountain River Stone.
After refining it, he would most likely be able to reach the island.
He didn’t hesitate any longer, and immediately started to refine this last Mountain River Stone.
A few hours later, the Mountain River Stone in his hand once again crumbled into dust.
During these several hours, many more people had arrived at this place. There were also some who left after realizing that they had no hope here. The physique that Ling Han had displayed was far too powerful, and it had caused a large majority of people to squash their wandering thoughts.
However, a prodigy from the Eternity Sky Majestic Empire was a part of the new arrivals. His cultivation level had reached the peak of the low extreme, and he was even a three-star genius. After a herculean effort, he had also managed to obtain an extreme weight Mountain River Stone.
From this, it could be clearly seen that battle prowess wasn’t the deciding factor that determined whether or not one could reach the island. There were numerous individuals who were more powerful than him, yet up until now, only he and Ling Han had succeeded in reaching the island. It could be seen that strength was the true might.
That individual was named You Hao, and not only was he extremely powerful, but he also had two elders guarding him by his side. They both possessed incredible battle prowess, which resulted in the surrounding people not daring to act recklessly.
There had been over 20 such elders not long ago, but almost all of them had left a short while back. There were only seven of them remaining, and as such, they weren’t confident of achieving certain victory in battle. As a result, they naturally didn’t dare to recklessly charge into battle.
You Hao appeared especially smug as he laughed loudly and swept his gaze around the surroundings.
Who didn’t know that being able to reach the island represented outstanding ability? Only a mere 10 or so people would be able to reach the island each time. Being imbued with the secret techniques of the old monsters was nowhere near enough.
This was an extreme test of power!
“Congratulations, Young Master!” The two elderly servants were all smiles as they congratulated You Hao.
You Hao was extremely self-satisfied, yet a peculiar expression quickly spread across his face. This was because many people were naturally stunned speechless by his great achievement. However, there were also many people who remained calm and unmoving as if they hadn’t seen his glorious feat at all.
‘Are they blind?’
Little did he know that Ling Han had already succeeded once before. Although he hadn’t succeeded on his second attempt, his actions that time were even more shocking than when he had succeeded.
Right at this moment, Ling Han stood up. He had finally reached the end of the middle stage of the low extreme. He was only a tiny bit off from forming a river, whose formation was the boundary separating the middle stage from the late stage.
You Hao chuckled coldly upon seeing Ling Han’s movements. He had only just succeeded in reaching the island, and this person was already trying to follow in his footsteps. His actions were truly nothing more than a joke.
‘Ptui! You’re biting off more than you can chew!’